This blog is about a journey through adult braces, Orthognathic Surgery - Bimaxillary surgery (double jaw surgery), having an under-bite and being a wimp!

Sunday, 15 July 2012

The big move!

Whilst I was away on holiday me and braces had a bit of a significant moment...braces has given me a full underbite! My backwards tooth on my lower jaw has finally moved, before braces the backwards bottom tooth and one of my top front teeth used to meet but my other teeth didn't, so i sort of had an underbite apart from these two teeth , giving me a bit of an odd bite. But now that's all changed, good job braces!!!

I am so amazed at how quickly that tooth has moved, it took exactly 4 weeks and 4 days to straighten that tooth out and give me an underbite. Although i am really struggling to bite through/rip any food, I am rather proud of my new bite, it's a big step for me and my mouth and we are a little bit closer to where we want to be.

6 weeks with braces

6 weeks with braces - I have an underbite

6 weeks with braces - backwards tooth is straight!

6 weeks with braces - my underbite is here!

6 weeks with braces - nice and straight top teeth now

6 weeks with braces

I can see that my face is changing and that my bottom lip sticks out a bit more than it used to, (I will apply the lip plumping lipgloss to the top lip only from now on) and my lower jaw seems to be jutting forward a bit more making it a bit more noticeable. I presume that during the course of treatment this will get worse and my lower jaw will become even more prominent and unfortunately may attract even more unwanted attention.

I did have an unwanted attention incident whilst on holiday in Malta, an English couple and their young son decided to have a discussion about the size of my chin and couldn't decide whether i had Bruce Forsyth's chin or Jimmy Hill's chin whilst i was sat opposite them on a bus. (FYI ignorant English couple and your horrid little boy I have Natasha Sephton-Pike's chin and i like it)

These sorts of comments I have heard many many times before and lots of other comments have been made over the years sometimes to my face, shouted at me as I walk down the street or whispered as i stand near by. It is upsetting and it does hurt when you hear people referring to you like your some kind of freak or an oddity just because you look slightly different, just because I have a larger lower jaw than other people. I did want to say something to that horrid family on the bus, to describe to them in detail the surgery I'm going to have to correct my jaw positioning and size and tell them that people like them are part of the reason why I've chosen to go through this, I wanted to stand there and shout out all of their visible differences and poke fun at them on the bus and see how they like it.

But I didn't, I have learnt over the years that the best thing to do is to just let it go. Leave that incident, that hurt, shame, frustration, anger, tears, leave it all there, just stop take a breath, and leave all of those feelings there and move on, just carry on being me. If I had of said something to that horrid family I would of been carrying around all of those feelings for the rest of the day, the rest of the week, the rest of the month, but because I just let all of those feelings go I enjoyed my day trip round Valletta, eating ice cream, site seeing and having a good time with my boyfriend and enjoying my holiday.

Everybody deals with things in their own way and my "let it go" approach is working for me, when I was younger I didn't let it go, and it really affected me, I really struggled to like me and the way I look. My boyfriend struggled that day to let it go, to not say something to that family, he was really angry and upset that I had to listen and deal with that on my holiday and so was i but it happens and I've learnt that if I don't let it go then it does more damage to me in the long run.

I'm happy with me, my face, how I look, my personality, my life, my choices and it's taken time, a lot of time for me to get to where I am now and to like myself, but I'm here now and It's not going.

6 comments:

Well done Natasha! I think we all need to take a leaf out of your book; easier said than done sometimes - especially when it is happening to someone you love, rather than yourself. This post is something that I will be sharing with my kiddies - to show them a) how rude people can be; b) that you have a choice with how to deal with such people; and c) just because someone looks different does not mean that they ARE different. Thanks for sharing :)

Thank you so much for your lovely words, it means a lot to me that you would share this post with your children.

Yes it is difficult to deal with, and it's at times like the bus incident with my boyfriend, that I fully appreciate how hard it is for those around me to just "let it go" and carry on, because it's not just me that has been affected but those around me too.

Your looking great by the way after your surgery, your palette is moving so quickly! how long will it take till it's complete?

Natasha you are so strong! We've all dealt with people picking apart our appearances and I really admire your calm and optimism when dealing with these kinds of situations-- you're an inspiration! Your teeth are coming along nicely, you look beautiful and keep being awesome and loving yourself!! :)

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About Me

Hi, I'm Natasha, and an official wimp! This blog is about my journey through orthognathic surgery for my class 3 malocclusion, including adult braces, double jaw surgery, recovery process and life after!